Nov 23, 1:40 pm
Who would have thought that in the 21st century graffiti artists would be designing our clothes and writing our books? I have to wonder how they manage to get their work published without being hauled off to do community service. Since I last checked I’m pretty sure the practice is still illegal (I know Bristol have been hovering the paint removal brush over Banksy‘s work for years, and Disneyland definitely didn’t seem to pleased about the orange suited mannequin). It reminds me of a news documentary I watched the other night about heroin trafficking. In the program, the news crew interviewed poppy growers and followed bags of opium across the borders of several countries. It baffles me how our government cannot catch these drug-traffickers, but we’re able to send the press out for tea with them…
Anyway rant on drugs over - back to the evils of graffiti:
I only really got thinking about graffiti after scrolling through images of some of the Gears of War advertising in America. There were all the usual poster and magazine articles, along with some fun ideas like this pumpkin:
But then there was also the graffiti element:
Is this ok? I’m really not sure. Not only is it vandalism (be it mild) but it is also permanent advertising. It’s not as easy to ignore or remove as a poster or a leaflet. I know a lot of people aren’t happy with aggressive, ‘in your face’ adverts. But now if people want to avoid them, they have to use their tax money to have them removed.
Shame on you Gears of War! Sure, you have spectacular graphics and wonderful game play, but allowing your minions to paint our streets is annoying! Maybe they should advertise by getting people to go out picking up litter into Gears of War bags instead?
However this is, as per usual, just my ranty old opinion… what is yours?
